Big South Announces 2019 Women's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Campbell senior forward Alexa Genas (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Radford sophomore defender Kayla Thomas (Rolleston, New Zealand) have been voted the 2019 Big South Women’s Soccer Attacking Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced today by the league office. High Point forward Sam Gerhart (Lebanon, Pa.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while Panthers’ head coach Brandi Fontaine was voted Coach of the Year. In addition, the Big South’s sports information directors voted Longwood junior Carrie Reaver (Thurmont, Md.) as the women’s soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Genas is now a two-time winner of the conference’s Attacking Player of the Year honor, as she was the recipient in 2017. She concluded the 2019 regular-season as the Big South leader in goals with 12, points with 33, and tied for second in assists with nine. She was also tops in points per game (1.94) and goals per game (0.71). Nationally, Genas leads Division I with seven game-winning goals, in addition to ranking 10th in total points, 14th in points per game, and 16th in total assists. She helped the Camels to their best regular-season finish during their Big South affiliation at 8-1-1 and second-place. In 10 league matches this season, she paced the circuit with eight goals, six assists and 22 points. The three-time Attacking Player of the Week received six first-place votes and 26 points in the voting, ahead of Radford’s Nelia Perez (16 points and two first-place votes) and Gardner-Webb’s Stina Kleppe (15 points and two first-place votes).
Thomas is the first Highlander to be voted Big South Defensive Player of the Year since 2013. After recording 15 matches with 90 minutes of gameplay on the defensive end, she helped the Highlanders to 10 shutouts this season, including three of the last four matches. Thomas has also contributed on the offensive end with a goal and two assists. The Defensive Player of the Week following the opening weekend of the season, Thomas was part of a Radford backline that permitted the fewest overall goals in the regular-season (12), as well as the top goals-against average at 0.67. She earned 20 points and six first-place votes, ahead of High Point goalkeeper Talia Klimes (14 points and four first-place votes) and Longwood’s Taylor Alvey (12 points and one first-place vote).
Gerhart is the second consecutive Panther to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year. She led the squad with 12 points during the regular-season on four goals and four assists -- leading all Big South freshmen in the three categories. Gerhart scored goals in three-straight games from Sept. 28-Oct. 5 against USC Upstate, UNC Asheville and Hampton. In conference contests, Gerhart tied for sixth among the leaders with 12 points, tied for fourth in assists and tied for ninth in goals. The two-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree collected seven first-place votes and 26 points in the voting, ahead of Campbell’s Elyssa Nowowieski (13 points, one first-place vote) and Charleston Southern’s Zari Hayes (10 points, one first-place vote).
In just her second year at the helm of the Panthers, Fontaine lead High Point to its first outright Big South regular-season title since 2016 with an 8-0-2 league record -- a five-win improvement over last year’s eighth-place conference finish. High Point is the first squad to go unbeaten in league play since the Big South expanded to 10 or more teams in 2011. The Panthers are also the first Big South regular-season champion to not suffer a league loss since 2004. This season, HPU scored 28 goals overall (fourth in the conference), and allowed the third-fewest scores (18). In Big South action, High Point scored 24 times (second-best in the rankings), permitted just six goals and was tops with a 0.56 goals-against average with a league-high six shutouts. Fontaine received nine first-place votes and 28 points in the voting, ahead of Presbyterian College’s Brian Purcell (10 points and one first-place vote).
Reaver is a 4.00 student in Biology and a three-year starting defender for the Lancers. A Big South Honorable Mention honoree in 2018, she has helped Longwood post six shutouts (five in league play) this season. A CoSIDA Academic All-District selection last year, Reaver spent the past summer interning at a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while taking Spanish-language medical classes.
The league also announced the 2019 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Thursday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features four forwards, four midfielders, four defenders and one goalkeeper on each team. The All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the Big South’s sports information directors.
2019 Big South Conference Women’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Alexa Genas, Sr., Campbell
F: Nelia Perez, Sr., Radford
F: Maddie Turlington, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F: Natalie Royaards, Sr., Winthrop
MF: Stina Kleppe, Sr., Gardner-Webb
MF: Katie Lockwood, Sr., Campbell
MF: Chloe Le Franc, Jr., High Point
MF: Gabi Paupst, Jr., Radford
D: Kayla Thomas, Soph., Radford
D: Keagan Bragg, Fr., High Point
D: Taylor Alvey, Sr., Longwood
D: Dylan Patterson, Sr., Winthrop
GK: Talia Klimes, Sr., High Point
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Morgan Hutchison, Jr., Presbyterian College
F: Sam Gerhart, Fr., High Point
F: Rosie O’Neal, Sr., Campbell
F: Emma Schossler, Fr., High Point
MF: Juliette Vidal, Jr., High Point
MF: Gabi Hull, Sr., Winthrop
MF: Madison Lockamy, Jr., Longwood
MF: Bri Oliver, Jr., Radford
D: Callie Beckwith, Sr., Campbell
D: Carrie Reaver, Jr., Longwood
D: Keeley Leising, Sr., Winthrop
D: Delaney Baumbick, Fr., Campbell
GK: Courtenay Kaplan, Sr., Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
F: Kennedy Culbreath, Jr., Longwood
F: Jada Newton, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F: Zari Hayes, Fr., Charleston Southern
F: Jessica Donald, Soph., Campbell
MF: Carsyn Gold, Soph., High Point
MF: Gillian Oyos, Soph., UNC Asheville
MF: Elyssa Nowowieski, Fr., Campbell
MF: Dakota Fiedler, Soph., Charleston Southern
D: Kristen Bane, Jr., Presbyterian College
D: Jaasiel Forde, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D: Kylie Ameres, Sr., Gardner-Webb
D: Grace Sloan, Soph., UNC Asheville
GK: Madison Van Dyke, Jr., Longwood
All-Academic Team
Jessica Donald, F, Soph., Campbell
Juliana Barbaccia, D, Jr., Charleston Southern
Stina Kleppe, MF, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Isobel Finnegan, MF, Jr., Hampton
Talia Klimes, GK, Sr., High Point
Carrie Reaver, D, Jr., Longwood
Preston Robinette, MF, Jr., Presbyterian College
Natacha Rangel-Ribiero, MF, Sr., Radford
Grace Kwiatkowski, D, Jr., UNC Asheville
Emma Honis, F, Sr., USC Upstate
Keeley Leising, D, Sr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Alexa Genas, F., Sr., Campbell
Defensive Player of the Year
Kayla Thomas, D, Soph., Radford
Freshman of the Year
Sam Gerhart, F, Fr., High Point
Coach of the Year
Brandi Fontaine, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Carrie Reaver, D, Jr., Longwood